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With pitching so hard to acquire why do the Cubs insist on trading established pitchers like Ryan Dempster and Matt Garza for unproven players? Is pitching the name of the game? My idea is build around a good pitching staff. -- John Romano, Springfield, Ill. Dempster was going to leave as a free agent so they had to salvage something for him. Garza is still here, and his latest elbow problem could hinder any trade talks. If they don't think they can re-sign him, they need to get something in return, though they could start the 2013 season with him and deal him at the deadline. Depends on if they want to save some money, which appears likely. Do you think Dempster was putting his own...

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With pitching so hard to acquire why do the Cubs insist on trading established pitchers like Ryan Dempster and Matt Garza for unproven players? Is pitching the name of the game? My idea is build around a good pitching staff. -- John Romano,...

Some early BP before this week’s oil spill of a City Series:
Who goes crazier tonight, Cubs runners on Gavin Floyd or the flash mob in Carlos Zambrano’s head? Web poll!
Or maybe the question should be: Who do the Cubs run on more, Gavin Floyd or Juan...

Yup, I won a game for the Cubs when I was 9 years old, a kind of pre-pubescent reverse-Bartman deal. The next day's Chicago Tribune called the anonymous fan who interfered with a critical eighth-inning play "the fourth outfielder," which. with...

During the eighth inning Tuesday in the Cubs' 6-2 loss to San Francisco, boos rained down on reliever Jeff Samardzija.
It was really no different than the booing that greeted Derrek Lee, Milton Bradley, Kevin Gregg, Neal Cotts or several other Cubs ...

ST. LOUIS -- Minutes after watching his team get shut out on three hits Tuesday night in a 3-0 loss to St. Louis, Cubs manager Lou Piniella was all dressed and ready to go.It may have been a coincidence, but the whole team looked like it was ready to...

HOUSTON -- Ryan Theriot sounded like Lou Piniella on Thursday after the Cubs dropped another agonizing, extra-inning game on the final day of their three-city trip.
"I'm kind of like Lou," he said. "I don't really have an answer right...

PITTSBURGH -- Lou Piniella finally blew his top Wednesday night at PNC Park, putting an end to the long-running story line about his alleged lack of fire.
Piniella proved he still can emote with the best of them during a sixth-inning ejection in the...

When Milton Bradley grounded out with the tying run on second in the ninth inning of Thursday's 5-4 loss to the Nationals, the game ended.
But the real story was just beginning because Bradley refused to let it end.
The Bradley saga took another strange...

When Ted Lilly entered the seventh inning of the Cubs' home opener Monday with a no-hitter intact, the remnants of the 40,077 human popsicles who ventured out to Wrigley Field were starting to think they were witnessing history.Lilly had been untouchable,...

Like any frustrated Cubs fan, former Gov. Rod Blagojevich had his own ideas about how manager Lou Piniella should run the team.
The moment came during one tough stretch at the end of May 2007. The Cubs had just lost to the Florida Marlins 9-0, the team's...

It doesn't matter when or where because the Cubs and Cardinals are something very special to their legions of fans stretched between Chicago and St. Louis.
"It's special because it's almost like a playoff atmosphere," said Aaron Miles, the Cub...

You'd like to say the Cubs' victory Friday was as easy as 1-2-3 but, these being the 2009 Cubs, "easy" is not part of their vocabulary.
One would be the number of grand slams Ryan Theriot has in his career and the number of victories David...

What happened Thursday at Wrigley Field was one of the most dramatic games in Cubs- White Sox history, and certainly one of the most improbable given the recent ineptitude of the Cubs' offense.
And it came from two implausible heroes who changed...

PITTSBURGH -- Aramis Ramirez has an opt-out clause in his contract after the 2010 season, giving him an opportunity to test free agency if his $14.6 million salary is below fair-market value.
But after learning how valuable he is to the Cubs during...

Lou Piniella was in no mood to regurgitate his pregame comments about the lack of offense after Wednesday's 4-1 loss to Atlanta pushed the Cubs back to .500 at 41-41.
"There's no sense talking about it anymore," the Cubs manager said.
The Cubs...

Winning at Wrigley Field has become routine for Ted Lilly. The way he earned his victory Saturday was anything but.
For only the second time all season, the Cubs got RBIs in the same game from Aramis Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano and Milton Bradley, and...

The countdown to the July 31 trade deadline is on, and the Cubs remain in a wait-and-see mode.
They are 1 1/2 games behind first-place St. Louis after Friday's 8-5 victory over Cincinnati.
The Cubs have won 8 of their last 11, a streak that roughly has...

Ted Lilly joked before Tuesday night's game that Ryan Dempster never should have tried to imitate him when he jumped over the dugout fence three weeks ago and broke his big right toe.
"I tried to warn Ryan," Lilly said. "That was something...

Randy Wells could be the Cubs' second straight Rookie of the Year.
Wells may have put himself into serious contention Wednesday with eight shutout innings in a 12-0 romp over Houston.
It was not only Wells' seventh victory in his last eight starts,...

CINCINNATI -- Few of Jim Hendry's off-season moves have worked out the way he wanted, as evidenced by the Cubs' first-half malaise.
But the deadline deal that brought left-handers Tom Gorzelanny and John Grabow from Pittsburgh has paid early dividends....